On Basilisk Station: Honor Harrington, Book 1 (Unabridged)
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $29.99
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- $29.99
Publisher Description
Having made a superior look a fool, Honor Harrington has been exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and set up for ruin.
Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship's humiliating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station.
The aborigines of the system's only habitable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens.
Parliament isn't sure it wants to keep the place; the major local industry is smuggling; the merchant cartels want her head; the star-conquering, so-called "Republic" of Haven is up to something; and Honor Harrington has a single, over-age light cruiser with an armament that doesn't work to police the entire star system.
But the people out to get her have made one mistake. They've made her mad.
A Note from Author David Weber
There's been some confusion—not to say, um, energetic debate, readers and fans being readers and fans—about the correct pronunciation of "Manticoran." The truth, alas, is that a stitch was dropped. An error occurred. A mistake was made… and it wasn't Audible's fault. It was mine. Before Audible recorded the very first Honor Harrington book, narrator Allyson Johnson and I not only corresponded by e-mail but actually spoke to one another by phone. She wanted to make absolutely certain she had the correct pronunciations for names, places, star nations, etc., and I tried to make certain all of her questions were answered. And so they were. Unfortunately, at some point in the process, I replied to one of her e-mails by telling her that "Man-ti-core-ahn" was pronounced "Man-tik-er-ahn." Exactly how this happened is more than I can say at this point, except to blushingly disclose that the original e-mail remains intact, confirming to all the world that it was, indeed, my fault. I can ascribe it only to a temporary mental hiccup on my part and crave your forgiveness. If, however, you must blame someone for the mix-up, that someone should be me and not Audible, who have done everything they could to get it right.
Customer Reviews
Warning: excruciatingly bad accents and voices
As a devoted fan of Lois McMaster Bujold, I have read many positive reviews comparing Weber's military sci-fi with Bujold, which prompted me to buy this audio book. While the comparisons with Bujold are so far off the mark as to be ridiculous, some elements of the book were okay. If only we weren't battered over the head with how amazing Honor Harrington is - even her enemies are lost in admiration. That rubbish aside, some good moments of suspense during the space battle at the end of the book. so, in my view, an okay read - lame-ish, corny, flat characters, but okay for a quiet night.
However, please, audible books, find someone else to do the reading. This reader is just awful. Aside from making the heroine sound like she is a 12 year old instead of a 40 year old (no gravitas whatsoever), the attempts at foreign accents are just appalling. And when they are male foreign accents, it descends into the realms of unlistenable. Just... read the book. You can't act. Sorry, but you just can't. 70% of the characters sound like they have a serious intellectual disability. The posh english accents are even worse than the attempted cockney. Oh, I really wanted to find out what happened in the story, but is really was difficult to endure.
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